A look at Mayor Roefaro's first year in office

When David Roefaro ran for mayor in November 2007, he promised to make residents feel safer following the shooting death of Utica police Officer Thomas Lindsey.

BRYON ACKERMAN

When David Roefaro ran for mayor in November 2007, he promised to make residents feel safer following the shooting death of Utica police Officer Thomas Lindsey.

But as city officials paid for the public safety upgrades that they say have resulted in an 8 percent decrease in crime, a recession spread through the nation – elevating the need for economic development in Utica.

Now, as Roefaro wraps up his first year in office, the fear has shifted.

As Utica prepares for an unstable economic future, many areas pinpointed for development – such as the Harza Building and Bossert site – have yet to result in new businesses or jobs.
Roefaro, however, said the groundwork for development has been established.

He said he has cultivated relationships with economic-development organizations, developers and state officials and agencies, while making progress toward creating a master plan and cleaning up contaminated sites.

“A lot of it you can’t see, but the fruits of that labor will be coming in the next 12 to 24 months,” he said. “All of this points to the bigger picture. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but we’ll start building it in my first four years.”

City Councilman Bill Phillips, D-5, said Roefaro’s public safety initiatives have made a difference, but the mayor’s biggest challenges now will be to continue that with a balanced budget, while also attracting businesses to the city.

In January 2008, the Rite-Aid drugstore at 167-169 Genesee St. closed – eliminating the availability of a full-service pharmacy in downtown Utica.

At the time, Roefaro said he was confident that downtown would rebound, and he cited possibilities that he said he couldn’t yet talk about.

Almost a year later, the mayor said he’s still trying to attract a business to replace the Rite-Aid.

And many Uticans such as Shamahr Pearl, 26, say they haven’t noticed much economic development in the city. The mayor needs to do more to attract businesses, Shamahr said.
“Economically, you’ve got to have more jobs,” he said.

Public safety

Schenectady Mayor Brian Stratton, a Democrat, is in the process of finishing up his fifth year as mayor. He said he remembers that his initial 12 months were about making the beginning steps toward progress.

“The first year is really taking stock of what the state of the city is,” Stratton said.

There also is pressure to follow through on your major campaign goal, he said. For him, it was to improve the city’s financial management problems, and he believes Schenectady was able to turn the corner, he said.

For Utica’s mayor, the primary focus during his campaign was public safety, which Roefaro believes has improved.

This year, officials started sending out two police officers in some vehicles, added to the police force, brought back the Utica Arson Task Force, opened a police substation on Varick Street and began working on another substation on James Street.

Craig Grant, Utica HomeOwnership Center community coordinator, said the mayor’s initiatives have been working as a strong beginning point for improving safety.

“He’s stepped things up a notch there,” Grant said.

Overall, Part 1 criminal offenses – sometimes described as the most violent crimes – are down 8 percent from 3,882 offenses last year to 3,578 offenses this year, said Utica Public Safety Commissioner Daniel LaBella, who became acting police chief earlier this year after the city reached a retirement settlement with former Chief C. Allen Pylman.

LaBella, however, said city officials need to remain ready to adapt to changes in crime patterns.

Homicides are down from five last year to four this year, but arsons increased, LaBella said.

There also have been changes to address an increase in robberies this year, he said.

“We still have a lot more work to do,” he said. “Obviously, what we’re doing is working – as the numbers reflect – but we are sentimental to the fact that at any given time, the crime could escalate.”

Officials also will have to be ready to adapt their public safety efforts based on how the economy impacts the city, Roefaro said.

“Whatever the economy dictates to us, we will deal with and will still maintain the high level of public safety for our residents,” he said.

Downtown development

Councilman Patrick Donovan, R-at-large, said Roefaro’s initiatives for public safety mostly have been successful, but Utica, like many other cities right now, has struggled with economic development and has seen some businesses downsizing.

“I’d say, overall in that area, it hasn’t been as good as public safety,” Donovan said.
Phillips said he believes Utica should hire a “topnotch” economic development official to address the challenges facing the city. That could require a six-figure salary, but it also would create an increased demand to produce results, he said.

The city needs to take advantage of vacant properties by developing downtown student housing, loft apartments, stores or even City Hall offices – just to get people downtown, Phillips said.

Utica Urban and Economic Development Commissioner Robert Sullivan said his biggest disappointment with development this year is that progress downtown has been slower than he hoped.

He said he would have liked to have seen more advancements with upper-floor development in the Harza Building and the former HSBC Bank building.

“I’m more impatient about downtown than anything else,” Sullivan said.

The economy and a previous lack of planning for the city hurt development this year, he said.

‘Building relationships’

Officials soon will decide on a company to develop the city’s master plan, which could help attract developers who want to know a clear, stable vision exists for the future, Sullivan said.
The plan also will help in receiving grants, he said.

Roefaro said the contract for the master plan, which was another one of his early goals, will be awarded in January, but it will take at least 12 to 18 months to complete.

Among the successes Roefaro points to:

* He sat with Gov. David Paterson as Paterson signed over final approval that the state would give Utica property at Harbor Point, which the city hopes to develop once the contamination there is cleaned up.

* Roefaro worked with the state Department of Environmental Conservation on completing the cleanup at the Bossert site.

* He said he travels to Albany once per month on his own money to lobby officials, and he has made two trips to New York City to meet with officials there. He also frequently meets with developers from Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and New York City, he said.

* Roefaro also points to the openings of several small businesses such as the recent opening of Ultra Coat Finishers in North Utica.

Utican Jean Burton said she has seen some positives and some negatives during Roefaro’s first year in office. The mayor needs to control spending and overtime costs because taxes need to drop if the city is going to be able to attract businesses, she said.

Overtime declined slightly during the last year, but the city’s payroll increased $1.4 million — or 7 percent, records show.